Test Setup

Test Setup

The main supporting cast of our test setup is the Intel desktop board, the DX79SI which is also known as 'Siler'. We have decided to bump up the memory capacity to 8GB as we are using two sets of Kingston HyperX 4GB Memory Kit. This is so that we will fill up the first four DIMM slots of the board and due to the fact that the Intel Core i7-3960X is the first CPU we are testing with quad-channel memory support. We changed the clock frequency of the memory modules to its rated frequency of 1600MHz for the initial run of our benchmark suite to see if the increased memory frequency offers any assistance in performance. In another run, we obtained a separate set of results with the memory modules’ clock frequency set lower to 1333MHz - this will better align with findings from the rest of our comparisons which also have memory set at 1333MHz.

In our test setup, the cooling solution is provided by the Intel Active Thermal Solution RTS2011LC, a closed liquid cooling system. For comparisons, we brought out the Westmere-based 6-core Intel i7-980X along with the Sandy Bridge-based Core i7-2600K/Core i5-2500 and contenders from AMD such as the recent FX-8150 and the Phenom II X6-1100T. Although Intel has a speedier Core i7-990X, we stuck with the 980X as it's clock compatible with the Core i7-3960X which we're pitting it against. This will really help us show the difference from the new generation versus the previous generation of processors.

For our comparison, we have a number of Intel processors, from the Core i7 to the Core i3 and on both X58 and P55 chipsets. There's even a H55 chipset for the integrated graphics segment, not to mention the AMD contingent.